Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1989. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed, inscribed & dated by Rudolf Arnheim. “For many years Rudolf Arnheim, known as the leading psychologist of art, has been keeping notebooks in which to jot down observations, ideas, questions, and even (after a stay in Japan for a year) poems in the haiku pattern. Some of these notes found their way into his books—known and prized the world over—such as Art and Visual Perception, Visual Thinking, and The Power of the Center,/i> (see back flap for complete list). Now he has selected, from the remaining riches of his notebooks, the items in this volume. The book will be a joy to ramble through for all lovers of Arnheim's work, and indeed for anyone who shares Arnheim's contagious interest in the order that lies behind art, nature, and human life. It is a seedbed of ideas and observations in his special fields of psychology and the arts. ‘I have avoided mere images and I have avoided mere thoughts,’ says Arnheim in the Preface, ‘but whenever an episode observed or a striking sentence read yielded a piece of insight I had not met before, I wrote it down and preserved it.’ There are also glimpses of his personal life—his wife, his cats, his students, his neighbors and colleagues. He is always concrete, in the manner that has become his trademark, often witty, and sometimes a bit wicked.” (from front flap) It is truly a delight to the intellectual senses when a great mind like that of German-born writer, art and film theorist, and perceptual psychologist Rudolf Arnheim (1904-2007) shares their profundity in such an authentic and profound fashion. Arnheim was an internationally known psychologist and was the last surviving student of the Gestalt psychologists at the Psychological Institute at the University of Berlin before passing at 102 years old. One of his most profound theories was that art functioned to help people understand the world and expand the individual imagination and show the essence of something — like our existence both individually and collectively — and overall he wrote fifteen books about perceptual psychology, art, architecture, and film. Includes a memorial leaflet titled “Remembering Rudi” from a memorial service that was held at Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor, MI along with an accompanying booklet outlining a timeline of Arnheim’s life; a newspaper clipping of Arnheim’s obituary from The Ann Arbor News obituary section dated with red ink (“June 12, 2007”); an additional piece of stapled papers titled “In the Company of the Century” which looks to have been included in Cross Currents (1998): A Yearbook of Central European Culture that is inscribed and signed in blue ink, “For Larry Goldstein / Rudi”; and a transcript from a lecture given February 1984 titled “My Life in the Art World”. From the collection of Laurence Goldstein (1943-2023), poet, editor, and professor in the University of Michigan Department of English Language and Literature. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket: Presumed to be first edition though not stated at copyright page, first printing as explicated by number sequence thereon. Book is in fine condition with moderate scratching along right edge of spine or left edge of front cover. Dust Jacket is fine with mild rubbing on front and back covers & inner flaps; mild scratching on front and back covers & inner flaps; and minor bumping/fraying to fine edges. Inscribed, signed, and dated on first page in blue ink, “To Larry and Nancy / and their / nightshalls (see photos) / June 2001”. Fine / Fine. [Item #6879]